Chapter 473 - 472: The Abyss
The distant buildings were no longer cold mountains of reinforced concrete. They looked like massive, living, breathing crystals, soft halos flowing across their surfaces, their shapes and structures completely overturning the old principles of architecture. Huo Yuhao watched as a virtual waterfall cascaded down the exterior of a building hundreds of meters tall. Several realistic holographic koi swam up the current, finally leaping from the water's surface and transforming into tiny chips of light that dissolved into the air.
He was now among the top ten soul masters of the Douluo Continent, capable of creating city-destroying weapons akin to stationary soul guidance cannons with his own hands. Yet walking through this city, he felt like a disciple from a primitive era. There was simply too much soul guidance technology embedded here—too deep and profound to fathom.
He could understand the maglev train's energy core, and even grasp the basic principles of the ecological circulation systems. But he couldn't comprehend why the entire city could withstand the wind and low temperatures at an altitude of ten thousand meters. Nor could he analyze how the reality-distorting energy laws behind the domes and sky curtains functioned. Even further beyond his understanding was the anti-gravity core hidden beneath the city, suspended and said to be directly connected to the planet's core energy.
For years, he had spent most of his time in seclusion, cultivating and influencing the divine realm, but he had never stopped observing the world. He had witnessed the end of the war, the birth of the Haiyuan League, and the rise and fall of the world in just a few short years.
He had to admit that the Haiyuan League—more precisely, Lu Jingming—had done an extraordinary job. So outstanding, so nearly perfect, so awe-inspiring.
The wounds of war had been completely healed in only a few years, thanks to the League's virtually limitless resources and efficient administration. Refugees were resettled in newly equipped, unified communities. Cities destroyed by war were reborn from the ashes under even more advanced planning. For those who resisted, the League's methods were iron-blooded and effective. Absolute power suppressed all disobedience.
Once, powerful hidden sects that disregarded imperial authority and influenced national decisions—like the Clear Sky Sect—were drawn out from deep mountains and ancient forests by the League's relentless law enforcement teams. These ancient sects, which had survived for ten thousand years, wisely chose to register with the League as "non-governmental organizations protected and supervised by League law."
The old noble system, while nominally retained to appease the people, was a mere shadow of its former self. All hereditary territories, private armies, and—most importantly—legal privileges had been forcibly recovered by the League in an indisputable gesture.
Nobles who once decided the life and death of commoners were now just ordinary wealthy citizens, albeit with resounding titles and a one-time compensation from the League—enough for generations to live comfortably. Did they dare resist? Not a chance.
The first Duke of the Sun and Moon Empire tried to unite the old aristocrats in rebellion. But barely three hours into the uprising, with fewer than five thousand private soldiers gathered, a giant, cold claw from the sky smashed his castle three hundred meters underground, physically vaporizing both him and any will to resist. Since then, no one dared challenge the authority of the League.
Lu Jingming's methods were like a high-precision surgical scalpel—removing the rot and tumors from society while carefully preserving the healthy tissue and providing ample nutrients for a smooth transition to the new ecosystem.
For civilians, the League's policies were more beneficial than ever before. Every child, upon turning six, was awakened by a professional Awakener from the League's Civil Affairs Awakening Division. This service was completely free, covering even the remotest villages on Earth.
Children who awakened soul power would be sent to junior soul master academies established by the League, receiving six years of fully-funded foundational education. Here, they learned not just meditation and how to obtain soul rings, but also the laws of the League and various basic scientific and cultural knowledge.
The Haiyuan League, having unified the planet's resources, now possessed unimaginably powerful financial reserves. Supporting such a vast, world-covering free education system was not even a burden.
Huo Yuhao walked through a sprawling park and saw a group of children playing on the lawn. Not far away, their parents sat on benches, smiling as they watched and chatted softly.
"What a Haiyuan League... What a Lu Jingming... To govern such a chaotic and lawless world is nothing short of a miracle, old friend."
An ancient, wise voice echoed gently in Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea. It was Electrolux—the former undead natural disaster, God of Necromancers—speaking in a tone filled with heartfelt gratitude and admiration.
"Yes, it's unbelievable. I can really see a day when humans and soul beasts coexist peacefully." Another voice, brimming with amazement and vitality, chimed in. It was the Skydream Iceworm.
A nearly imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth.
The conflict between humans and soul beasts had lasted for hundreds of thousands of years, with rivers of blood and deep grudges. It was naturally impossible to resolve it completely in just a few years. In private, frictions and conflicts caused by various historical issues still occurred from time to time. There were still humans who had suffered tragic losses at the claws of soul beasts, harboring deep hatred. There were still soul beasts massacred by human soul masters, whose souls were filled with distrust and vigilance toward humans.
Yet no one dared to openly express this hatred. Because the law of the Haiyuan League was the sharpest blade hanging over everyone's head.
The person wielding this sword was none other than Cerydra—the League Supreme Court's lifelong judge, a member of the Pantheon, and inheritor of the God Asura's throne. This iron-blooded Kaiser was truly selfless, with a face like steel. In her eyes, there were no humans or soul beasts—only those who abided by the law and those who broke it. There was not a shred of mercy in her verdicts. No matter one's race or grievances, no one dared stir up trouble easily.
Moreover, everyone knew that Gu Yuena, the current leader of the soul beast clan, and Lu Jingming, the supreme ruler of the Haiyuan Empire and the League, were publicly recognized partners. Now, across the entire continent, who dared touch the brow of these League lords?
What of those thorns who truly couldn't be handled or brought to heel? They were all rounded up by the League in the name of public safety and thrown into the battlefield beyond the borders—the place they loved most. There, they could enjoy a lawless, free-for-all battle royale against the antimatter legions who knew only destruction and killing.
Huo Yuhao looked up at the huge holographic projection screen above the city. On the screen, a blood-soaked recruitment propaganda video from the frontlines was playing.
"Alert, alert! The antimatter legions from the Abyssal Plane are massing for an assault on the Seventh Defense Line. Warriors of the Haiyuan, take up your arms! For our motherland, for the glory of the League, join us in utterly crushing those chaotic remnants!"
The images showed the antimatter legions—countless ugly, twisted monsters filling the sky. Behind them, godlike and devilish beings emanated auras of destruction, the Lord Ravager. In contrast, the League's soldiers piloted handsome mechas and wielded powerful soul guide weapons, fighting life-and-death battles with these monsters amidst a storm of artillery.
The whole promotional video, wrapped in passionate music and the excited narration of the host, stirred countless young soul masters passing by, making them eager to volunteer, to shed their blood and lay down their lives on the battlefield outside the borders.
Huo Yuhao watched quietly. A fleeting hint passed through his eyes, understood only by him.
The Haiyuan League had unified the Douluo Continent, but it did not bring peace of mind. In the propaganda, the two culprits who once bewitched the emperors of the former Sun and Moon Empire and the Moon Empire—Xu Tianran and the world's bringers of war, Celenova and Phantylia—had not been completely eliminated. They had led the remnants of the antimatter legions into the vast dimensional "Abyss Realm," forcibly connecting it to the crystalline wall of the Douluo Continent. Since then, there existed an extra buffer zone outside the Douluo Continent called the "Extraterritorial Battlefield." Monsters from the Abyss tried to invade the continent in endless waves, while the League built countless interstellar fortresses on the battlefield, garrisoning countless soldiers and staunchly holding the flames of war outside the door.
Yet, because the will of the plane was suppressed, the members of the antimatter legions would be greatly weakened upon descending onto the Douluo Continent's mainlands, rendering them no real threat. However, as long as the Abyssal Plane and its antimatter legions existed, as long as the League survived, the threat would always remain. This was a fact everyone was convinced of. It was also the most important external pressure the League used to maintain internal unity and a sense of crisis across society.
But Huo Yuhao knew it was all fake. The so-called invasion of the antimatter legions, the so-called threat of the Abyssal Plane, the so-called vengeance of the Lord Ravager... it was all just a scene directed by Lu Jingming—so grand it fooled the entire world. Celenova and Phantylia did exist, but they and Lu Jingming tacitly used each other. Lu Jingming had deliberately left such a clear enemy. The purpose was obvious.
First, it made internal integration more convenient. With a common malicious external enemy, all internal contradictions could be temporarily suppressed and set aside. The hatred between humans and soul beasts? The conflict between nobles and commoners? In the face of righteousness—defending the homeland and resisting foreign enemies—such things were insignificant.
Second, it kept the League in a constant state of crisis. Comfort leads to decline and stagnation of civilization. Only an ever-present threat hanging overhead could force the entire League to continuously develop science and technology, cultivate strong talents, and maintain a high fighting spirit.
Third, it provided an outlet for forces with nowhere else to go. Aggressive soul masters by nature, vicious criminals, ambitious careerists dissatisfied with reality... Rather than allow them to cause trouble internally, it was better to throw them all into the giant meat grinder outside the borders. If they survived, they became heroes. If they died, their deaths were the ultimate contribution to the League. Ultimately, even in death, their power could be recycled by the world, making Douluo even stronger. By destroying the Abyss Realm's creation, Douluo could also absorb its energy and become even stronger.
A fine chess move—using the world as a gameboard, all living things as pieces.
In his heart, Huo Yuhao felt a renewed sense of genuine admiration—and deep fear—towards that man. And the reason he could know all this, enough to overturn the world's understanding of reality, lay in his current identity.
He was the Eighth King of the most mysterious and powerful organization under Lu Jingming—the World Serpent. At the same time, he was also a member of the Pantheon—the true highest authority behind the League.
The name "Pantheon" was still a legendary, ethereal place to ordinary people. But to someone like Huo Yuhao, he knew that it was the real God Realm personally created by Lu Jingming, exclusively belonging to Douluo Continent. It was a special demi-plane existing between the material world and higher-dimensional space. It was the dwelling place of all the League's gods, and the true decision-making center determining the future direction of the entire League and even the planet.
However, the threshold for entering the gods' Pantheon was desperately high: one had to be a True God of the Hundred Floors.
Even today, with the integration of worlds and the planet's upgrade, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was more than ten times richer than in the old days. Natural treasures emerged one after another, and the cultivation environment was far better. Yet it was still exceedingly difficult to break human limits, ignite divine fire, condense a divine position, and become a True God.
Most of the gods were members of Haiyuan City.